Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will not be long. Mr. Fitzpatrick seems to be prudent. In the second progress report on the public service agreement 2010-14 he states the body is of the view that accelerating change needs to occur across all public service bodies in every sector with an increased sense of urgency. I do not believe he has made that statement lightly. Clearly, he has concerns that the rate of change is not fast enough. He probably signed off on the document at the start of June.

How long is Mr. Fitzpatrick's contract? When the Minister was before the committee this morning, he indicated that there might be intransigence within some areas of the public sector at middle management level with respect to the changes required under the Croke Park agreement. My fundamental view is that we do not need to reinvent the wheel, rather we need to get the agreement to work to maximum effect. Are there jams within the system which prevent this from happening? There are great people working in the public sector and I believe in the Croke Park agreement. Nevertheless, it is about getting it to work to maximum capacity.

With regard to redeployment, community welfare officers were transferred from the Department of Health to the Department of Social Protection. I believed at the time that many of these personnel should have been assigned to the fraud detection section of the Department of Social Protection. My understanding is they have not been. Their local knowledge is unrivalled.

Will Mr. Fitzpatrick provide the context in terms of where he sees the agreement working and where there are weaknesses? Where does he see a need for oil to be applied to get the agreement to work to its maximum potential?